Crispy Oven Fried Chicken Thighs
These Crispy Oven Fried Chicken Thighs are a great alternative to traditional frying! Bread bone-in chicken thighs, then throw them in the oven to crisp up perfectly. They’re so easy to make — don’t forget to add the honey mustard sauce!
Crispy Oven Fried Chicken Thighs
My husband is always asking for fried chicken — always. As in, every time I ask what sounds good for supper, he gives me the same answer. At this point, I really don’t know why I even ask!
While I do like fried chicken, I don’t like the amount of work that it requires and the mess it can make. Plus, it isn’t the healthiest meal to eat on a regular basis.
That’s why I like to oven “fry” my chicken. It’s less messy, and it’s a healthier option!
Normally, I just coat chicken in seasoned flour and bake it (I teach you how in this post for sheet pan Parmesan chicken), but I often miss that thicker breading and crunch you get when you traditionally fry chicken. You know what I mean?
I also make a wonderful homemade honey mustard sauce to drizzle over the top of this crispy chicken thigh recipe. It’s completely optional, but totally delicious!
Why You’ll Love Crispy Oven Baked Chicken Thighs
- No excess oil
- Crunchy and delicious
- Minimal ingredients
- Comes together in about an hour
- Family-friendly
Key Ingredients to Make This Crispy Chicken Thigh Recipe
- CHICKEN THIGHS – I’m using skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs for this recipe.
- ALL-PURPOSE FLOUR – You’ll need flour to create the breading. All-purpose is easiest to find, but you can also use your preference.
- SALT – To taste.
- SEASONINGS – Use a combination of onion powder, garlic powder, and paprika.
- EGGS – To help the breading stick to the chicken thighs.
- MILK – Also needed in the breading process!
- CORNFLAKES – Here’s where that signature crispy crunch comes in. Use crushed cornflakes!
- OLIVE OIL – Combine the cereal with olive oil to help it stick, and to help get that golden brown color on the finished results.
- HONEY MUSTARD – Again, creating your own is optional, but I can’t recommend it enough! You’ll need mayonnaise, honey, and Dijon mustard to make it.
Instructions to Make Oven Fried Chicken Thighs
PREPARE THE DREDGING STATIONS: Add the flour, salt, onion powder, garlic powder, and paprika to a shallow dish. Combine the eggs and milk in another dish. Finally, add the crushed cornflakes and olive oil to a third dish.
BREAD THE CHICKEN: Dredge one chicken thigh in the flour mixture. Dip it into the egg wash and then into the cornflake mixture. Make sure to coat both sides of the chicken! Place it on a large baking sheet and repeat with the other thighs.
BAKE: Place the baking sheet in the oven and bake for 45 minutes, or until the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees F.
MAKE THE HONEY MUSTARD (Optional): If you want to make my quick honey mustard, simply combine the mayonnaise, honey, and Dijon mustard in a small bowl.
Serve your crispy oven baked chicken thighs with your favorite dipping sauces and enjoy!
What to Serve With Crispy Oven Baked Chicken Thighs
Looking for serving suggestions for your breaded baked chicken thighs? Look no further!
- Skillet Garlic Green Beans
- A simple side salad made with Homemade Buttermilk Ranch Dressing
- Easiest Mashed Potatoes
- Slow Cooker Baked Potatoes
- Bacon Mashed Potatoes
- Old Fashioned Potato Salad
- Creamy Key Lime Fruit Salad
- Creamy Coleslaw
- And for dessert: No Bake Vanilla Cheesecake
FAQ
It truly depends on your specific tastes and preferences, as well as how much time you have. I think that my breaded chicken thighs taste great when cooked in the oven — plus you don’t have to use a lot of excess oil.
If you don’t have time to bake your chicken for an hour, your best bet is to pan-fry it. This post has some tips for cooking chicken in a skillet!
You can absolutely get the same crispy and crunchy texture you achieve from frying if you use the oven. This breaded baked chicken thighs recipe is proof! The key is in the added olive oil in the breading, as well as the cornflakes. Both come together to bring you crispy oven baked chicken thighs that you won’t believe aren’t actually deep-fried!
You don’t have to for this crispy chicken thigh recipe! It’s perfectly fine to bake breaded chicken thighs uncovered.
I cook mine at 400 degrees F, as I find that a higher temperature really helps them crisp up perfectly. They’ll cook up a lot faster too!
More Chicken Recipes to Try
- Green Chile Chicken Enchiladas
- Chicken Florentine Pasta Casserole
- Creamy Chicken Stew
- Poppy Seed Chicken Broccoli Casserole
Thanks so much for reading! Let me know what you think about this crispy oven fried chicken thighs recipe in the comments below!
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Crispy Oven “Fried” Chicken Thighs
Ingredients
- 6 bone in skin on chicken thighs
- ¼ cup all purpose flour
- Season salt to taste
- ½ teaspoon of each: onion powder, garlic powder, paprika
- 2 large eggs
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 1½ cups finely crushed cornflakes (I like to do this by placing in a resealable plastic bag and using a rolling pin to crush)
- ¼ cup olive oil
- HONEY MUSTARD SAUCE
- 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
- In a shallow dish combine the flour, salt, onion powder, garlic powder and paprika. In a second shallow dish combine the eggs and milk. In a third shallow dish combine the crushed cornflakes and olive oil.
- Dredge one chicken thigh in the flour mixture coating all sides. Dip into the egg wash coating all sides. Dredge in the cornflake mixture coating all sides. Place on a large baking sheet. Repeat with remaining chicken thighs. Bake for 45 minutes or until an internal temperature of 165 degrees F.
- OPTIONAL HONEY MUSTARD SAUCE: In a small bowl combine the mayonnaise, honey and dijon mustard.
Notes
- If using a food processor to make your cornflake crumbs be careful not to process too fine.
- Panko breadcrumbs can be substituted for the cornflakes.
- Chicken can be soaked in buttermilk overnight.
- Can use cut up chicken pieces as well.
- Nutrition Facts: Since different brands of ingredients have different nutritional information, the information shown is just an estimate. Nutrtion includes 1/6th of the honey mustard sauce.
Nutrition
I didn’t have any cornflakes in the house so I used seasoned Panko breadcrumbs instead (I needed closer to 2 cups to finish the breading). They came out nice and browned and crunchy. I seasoned the flower as directed, but couldn’t really taste any of the seasonings. I would like to make this again and I’m considering putting the spices in the breadcrumb mixture versus the flour in the hopes I would taste all the seasoning. Has anyone tried this?
Thank you so much for sharing! It’s great to know what other people do when they need substitutions!
Just made this recipe but subbed seasoned croutons instead of the cornflakes. It’s officially in the rotation. Used skinless, boneless chicken thighs and left it in the oven at 400 degrees for 35 minutes. The family loved it. Thanks!!
Thank you so much for sharing and wonderful idea!!
This recipe was wonderful! my picky 12 yr old raved about it and had more.
I did cook on parchment paper and some excess oil was on the cookie sheet. Thinking next time I can use less olive oil in the crunchy covering.
I used GF Panko for the first time ans itnwas my first time making oven baked fried hicken. it worked beautifully. I did need to add more salt but that is a preference.
I have never ventured to me fried chicken because of the mess with the oil.
this recipe is a keeper. tha k yoi
Thank you so much for sharing!! I am so glad you and your son liked the chicken!
Used vegetable oil instead of olive oil. Brushed cookie sheet with some extra oil to make sure chicken browned well. It was delicious. Great recipe!
Thank you for sharing!! SO glad you liked it!
Hello,
I made this recipe per instruction the thing I drizzled Honey on it to finish it .
Came out great.
Thanks for sharing! So glad you liked the chicken!
Do you bake it covered or uncovered? Do you leave on the skin?
Bake uncovered with the skin left on. Hope you enjoy!
I made the chicken thighs by your recipe except the cornflake crumbs and mustard sauce! I used Italian flavored Panko crumbs instead of cornflakes.
I absolutely love it! I just couldn’t wait so I ate one straight from the oven!! I will definitely do this again! I usually eat white meat, but I think this is tastier. By the way, I didn’t have any sauce with mine! I love the crunchiness of the Panko crumbs!
Thanks for sharing!!
Tried this recipe tonight. Used ground up croutons as that was all I had. I used 8 chicken thighs and did not need to change anything. I did add a little more garlic, onion, and paprika powder. I will make this again. Finger lickin’ good!!!!
I love the idea of using croutons!! And so glad you liked it!
I used skinless chicken thighs, Panko and seasoned with lawry’s garlic salt and paprika and they were delicious!!
Thanks for sharing!
For my seasonings, I used smoked paprika, poultry seasoning blend, salt and black pepper. Otherwise, I followed the recipe exactly, and the chicken turned out perfectly. I want to try the recipe with boneless, skinless breasts. I usually cook breasts at 450 for 35 minutes. Do you think this would work at 35 minutes at 425 if I flatten out the fattest part of the breast as best I can, something I don’t usually bother doing? Thanks for the great recipe.
Sorry I didn’t respond sooner!! I feel 35 min at 425 would be too long as chicken breasts can dry out really quickly. Try 18-20 minutes first. Thanks for sharing and so glad you liked the chicken thighs!
easy fried chicken rocks!!
I couldn’t agree more!! Thanks!
What? no oven temp in recipe description
I’m having a difficult time understanding why mediocre recipes keep getting 5 Stars. Seriously, I consider myself a pretty good cook and this recipe had virtually no flavor. I’m at a loss and need to find a seriously good recipe site. These 5 Star recipes have fooled me for the last time.
Thank you for your comment and I am sorry these disappointed you. But with any recipe whether online or in a cookbook one must adapt them to their own tastebuds especially if one is already a good cook and knows what flavors they like.
Agreed.
In the recipe, I encrusted each piece of chicken with minced Garlic. Let it penetrate for 3 hours.
Followed your basic recipe further, with the exception of using breadcrumbs instead of corn flakes and I substituted honey with a few tablespoons of spicy sweet chilli sauce over the chicken!
OMG!
Only ate 5 pieces! Hehe
Lol, thank you! So glad you adapted the recipe to suit your tastes!
This has become a staple for dinner on busy nights. It’s so easy and doesn’t take very long in my air fryer. Needed to crush a lot more cornflakes to give my boneless chicken thigh pieces a nice coating. Baked them at 400C for 20 min and then flipped them over for another 5 min or so depending on the thickness of the thighs. Always delicious every time, even without the sauce! Thank you!
Thank you very much! And love that you converted it to use your air fryer!
Great, simple recipe! I used plain panko and the spices in the flour took good care of flavor! Looking forward in trying some of your additional recipes. YUM!
Thank you very much!! I really appreciate it!
Cornflakes are the way to go for oven-fried chicken. SO much crunch and texture — and stood up very well to being slathered in the sauce, which is delicious. Instead of putting the cornflakes on a plate, I just left them in the large ziploc bag I crushed them in (didn’t add any oil) and tossed the chicken thighs in the bag after putting them in the egg mixture. Got a really even, well stuck on coating and then just sprayed with cooking spray before going in the oven. I had a little bit of a bunch of mustards hanging out, so I used a combo of sweet onion & BBQ mustard for the sauce and it worked so well. I served with some roasted potatoes and sweet potatoes with onion, which cooked at the same temperature. And a broccoli caesar salad — starting to feel a lot like fall!
Thank you!! So glad you liked the chicken and those different mustards sound so good with the chicken too!! Thanks for sharing!
The calorie count seems too high. I get more like 250 Kcal/thigh. Is the difference due to the sauce?
Hi! I took a look at the calorie count and yes it was high. For some reason, the nutrition calculator I have been using is calculating everything higher. I used the nutrition calculator from Very Well Fit and corrected the label. Thank you for bringing my attention to it!